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drum1

[druhm]
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noun, plural drums, (especially collectively for 11) drum.
  1. a musical percussion instrument consisting of a hollow, usually cylindrical, body covered at one or both ends with a tightly stretched membrane, or head, which is struck with the hand, a stick, or a pair of sticks, and typically produces a booming, tapping, or hollow sound.
  2. any hollow tree or similar object or device used in this way.
  3. the sound produced by such an instrument, object, or device.
  4. any rumbling or deep booming sound.
  5. a natural organ by which an animal produces a loud or bass sound.
  6. eardrum.
  7. any cylindrical object with flat ends.
  8. a cylindrical part of a machine.
  9. a cylindrical box or receptacle, especially a large, metal one for storing or transporting liquids.
  10. Also called tambour. Architecture.
    1. any of several cylindrical or nearly cylindrical stones laid one above the other to form a column or pier.
    2. a cylindrical or faceted construction supporting a dome.
  11. any of several marine and freshwater fishes of the family Sciaenidae that produce a drumming sound.
  12. Also called drum memory. Computers. magnetic drum.
  13. Archaic. an assembly of fashionable people at a private house in the evening.
  14. a person who plays the drum.
  15. Australian Informal. reliable, confidential, or profitable information: to give someone the drum.
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verb (used without object), drummed, drum·ming.
  1. to beat or play a drum.
  2. to beat on anything rhythmically, especially to tap one's fingers rhythmically on a hard surface.
  3. to make a sound like that of a drum; resound.
  4. (of ruffed grouse and other birds) to produce a sound resembling drumming.
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verb (used with object), drummed, drum·ming.
  1. to beat (a drum) rhythmically; perform by beating a drum: to drum a rhythm for dancers.
  2. to call or summon by, or as if by, beating a drum.
  3. to drive or force by persistent repetition: to drum an idea into someone.
  4. to fill a drum with; store in a drum: to drum contaminated water and dispose of it.
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Verb Phrases
  1. drum out,
    1. (formerly) to expel or dismiss from a military service in disgrace to the beat of a drum.
    2. to dismiss in disgrace: He was drummed out of the university for his gambling activities.
  2. drum up,
    1. to call or summon by, or as if by, beating a drum.
    2. to obtain or create (customers, trade, interest, etc.) through vigorous effort: They were unable to drum up enthusiasm for the new policies.
    3. to concoct; devise: to drum up new methods of dealing with urban crime.
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Idioms
  1. beat the drum, to promote, publicize, or advertise: The boss is out beating the drum for a new product.
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Origin of drum1

1535–45; back formation from drumslade drum, drummer, alteration of Dutch or Low German trommelslag drumbeat, equivalent to trommel drum + slag beat (akin to slagen to beat; cognate with slay)
Related formsun·der·drum·ming, noun

drum2

[druhm]
noun Scot., Irish English.
  1. a long, narrow hill or ridge.
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Origin of drum2

1715–25; < Irish and Scots Gaelic druim
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for drums

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • We gave the horses water out of the drums, and turned eastward with them.

  • We had to carry the water from the spring in drums, which was slow and hard work.

  • When he heard the drums he flared up like a spark in the tinder.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

  • While I talked, there burst forth suddenly the racket of fifes and drums in the road.

    In the Valley

    Harold Frederic

  • All up the Valley the drums' rattle drowned the drone of the locusts in the stubble.

    In the Valley

    Harold Frederic

British Dictionary definitions for drums

drum1

noun
  1. music a percussion instrument sounded by striking a membrane stretched across the opening of a hollow cylinder or hemisphere
  2. beat the drum for informal to attempt to arouse interest in
  3. the sound produced by a drum or any similar sound
  4. an object that resembles a drum in shape, such as a large spool or a cylindrical container
  5. architect
    1. one of a number of cylindrical blocks of stone used to construct the shaft of a column
    2. the wall or structure supporting a dome or cupola
  6. short for eardrum
  7. Also called: drumfish any of various North American marine and freshwater sciaenid fishes, such as Equetus pulcher (striped drum), that utter a drumming sound
  8. a type of hollow rotor for steam turbines or axial compressors
  9. computing a rotating cylindrical device on which data may be stored for later retrieval: now mostly superseded by disksSee disk (def. 2)
  10. archaic a drummer
  11. the drum Australian informal the necessary information (esp in the phrase give (someone) the drum)
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verb drums, drumming or drummed
  1. to play (music) on or as if on a drum
  2. to beat or tap (the fingers) rhythmically or regularly
  3. (intr) (of birds) to produce a rhythmic sound, as by beating the bill against a tree, branch, etc
  4. (tr sometimes foll by up) to summon or call by drumming
  5. (tr) to instil by constant repetitionto drum an idea into someone's head
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See also drum out, drum up

Word Origin

C16: probably from Middle Dutch tromme, of imitative origin

drum2

noun
  1. Scot and Irish a narrow ridge or hill
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Word Origin

C18: from Scottish Gaelic druim
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for drums

drum

n.

1540s, probably from Middle Dutch tromme "drum," common Germanic (cf. German Trommel, Danish tromme, Swedish trumma), probably of imitative origin. Not common before 1570s. Slightly older, and more common at first, was drumslade, apparently from Dutch or Low German trommelslag. Machinery sense attested from 1740, from similarity of shape.

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drum

v.

1570s, from drum (n.). To drum (up) business, etc., is American English 1839, from the old way of drawing a crowd.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
drums in Medicine

drum

(drŭm)
n.
  1. eardrum
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.